The demonstrators are angry at what they see as reverse discrimination. In protests over the weekend in the north Indian state of Haryana, they blocked highways, attacked railway stations, set fire to buildings and looted, police said.

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India has deployed troops to Haryana state after protests turned violent.

The unrest prompted the government to deploy thousands of troops with shoot-on-sight orders.

At least 16 people have been killed, authorities said.

There's "agreement over our remaining demand for financial compensation to the families of those who lost their lives (during the protests)," Jat leader Yashpal Malik said Monday. "We have called off our agitation."

Officials said the protesters have disrupted a key water station supplying a large part of neighboring New Delhi, a city of 25 million people. The protests are over, but Delhi faces a shortage of 570 million gallons of water a day, according to the city's water board.

Here's what led to the protests:

The caste system

For centuries, India's complex caste system has dictated a Hindu's lot in life, elevating some to positions as priests and labeling others as "untouchables."

But caste discrimination was legally abolished in India's 1949 constitution, and the state later introduced a national quota system of government jobs and a university system as a kind of affirmative action for former lower castes.

By 1990, 49% of quota-related jobs and admissions had been set aside for people from tribes and lower social groups.

Haryana's Jats -- a rural but relatively well-off caste group -- are demanding the same reservations in government employment as extended to economically disadvantaged lower castes.

Jats constitute at least a quarter of Haryana's population and see the quotas as reverse discrimination, denying them access to a large number of jobs.

Their demands have only gotten louder in recent months as job prospects dimmed. In the past few days, protesters have blocked highways and train tracks.

And over the weekend, they reportedly cut the water supply at a station that serves Delhi.

A water supply line

The state government of Delhi has sounded an alert over water supplies and announced that schools in the city will remain closed Monday.

Authorities in Haryana say engineers guarded by security forces are on the job to repair the damaged water station. But Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal told reporters it would take at least 24 hours for supplies to return to normal after the damaged canal is repaired.

Residents collect water from a tanker in West Delhi.

Residents and small businesses in Delhi's northern district told CNN on Sunday that they had had no piped-water supply since Saturday.

They said that instead, they are relying on groundwater withdrawn by submersible electric pumps, common in Delhi, or are buying packaged drinking-water jars.

"The taps are running dry here. We have to lug water buckets from our homes or buy packaged water for our shops," said Ashok Kumar, a dairy worker in North Delhi, about 20 kilometers (12½ miles) from the border with Haryana state.

He also complained of illegal trading of packaged water because of the current shortage of supplies from state utilities.

On Sunday, daily supplies in some other parts of Delhi were cut further -- to 30 minutes from the usual two hours.

A historic grievance

Jat leaders on Monday appealed for the protest to end after the BJP, which governs the state of Haryana, appointed a committee to look into protesters' demands.